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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24321100">Ashes for Youth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/lee_andrews/pseuds/lee_andrews'>lee_andrews</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Naruto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Akatsuki Might Guy, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Light Angst</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:55:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,473</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24321100</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/lee_andrews/pseuds/lee_andrews</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by this amazing art: https://twitter.com/etokpiva/status/1263642418156580866</p>
<p>A little story from an AU in which Maito Gai is a member of the Akatsuki, paired with Uchiha Itachi. What would be his motivations for joining that organisation? And what of his Eternal Rivalry with Hatake Kakashi?</p>
<p>Takes place after manga chapter 143 (episode 82 of Naruto). There are, however, spoilers beyond that, so please, see the notes at the beginning.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hatake Kakashi &amp; Maito Gai | Might Guy, Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Ashes for Youth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Naruto is kinda old news at this point, but a lot of people around me are reading/watching it for the first time now, so I decided to point out the spoiler warnings explicitly with approximate chapter/episode numbers: Kakashi's abilities (chapter 275/Shippuden episode 27), Itachi's story (chapter 402/Shippuden episode 141), Akatsuki goals (chapter 447/Shippuden episode 174), Gai's abilities (chapter 672/Shippuden episode 421).</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Itachi winced as he was being slammed into a tree. His voice, however, remained calm and indifferent as ever.</p>
<p>“Letting your anger out on me does you no credit, Gai. You have shown weakness by refusing to engage Hatake Kakashi in a fight and, effectively, failing our mission.”</p>
<p>“You put Kakashi under the effects of Tsukuyomi!” Gai growled, almost <em>squishing</em> Itachi against rough wood. “You did the one thing I warned you not to do.”</p>
<p>“And he endured it. And lived.”</p>
<p>“Yes, he lived! Which is the only reason why you do too.”</p>
<p>Gai was right. In his weakened state, vision blurry as an aftereffect of using Tsukuyomi, Itachi was no match for Gai’s supreme taijutsu, so he was really grateful that his gamble had paid off. Not only had Itachi made sure that Sasuke was safe, but he had also managed to show the strength of Mangekyō Sharingan to Hatake Kakashi. Maybe Gai, used to being dismissed or tuned out when he excitedly talked in his booming voice, always assumed that his Akatsuki partner never listened to all his “My Precious Rival” stories, but Itachi, on the contrary, listened very attentively, trying to learn as much about the Copy Ninja as he could. If it was at all possible for Kakashi to awaken the Mangekyō on his own, Itachi theorised, it should have happened to him already and, most probably, he just couldn’t consciously activate it yet. Itachi could still be wrong about it, of course, but Kakashi was able to withstand Tsukuyomi and that was not something any Sharingan user could just do. Itachi also knew that the Copy Ninja would try to find out more about the Mangekyō now that he'd been defeated like that. Which was very good, because if he did indeed have it, sooner or later Konoha would really need it.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, Gai was raging on.</p>
<p>“This whole mission was such a farce! Don’t tell me you seriously thought we could go in unnoticed and, more importantly, actually capture the Nine-Tails in the middle of Konoha! I mean, if Deidara had come up with such a plan, I might have understood, but not you, Itachi. Unless, of course, you had <em>other reasons</em> to enter the village and used our mission as a pretense. In that case,” Gai concluded in a significantly calmer voice, “there was nothing to fail in the first place.”</p>
<p>And there it was. Itachi had seen it time and time again in various fights they had been in together with Gai over the years. No matter how powerful, the opponents had always lost the moment they’d underestimated the intellect behind the loud obnoxious attitude, cheesy theatrics and the spandex suit. However, Itachi was neither oblivious to Gai’s sharpness nor, strictly speaking, his enemy. Even though their eventual goals conflicted, some part of Itachi wished Gai would succeed at his. After all, he knew exactly what it was like to do seemingly crazy things for the person you loved the most.</p>
<p>That comparison with Deidara, though… Ouch.</p>
<p>“And yet you went along with the plan you thought was shady and risky,” Itachi heard himself say.</p>
<p>Gai’s grip loosened and Itachi slumped down onto the earth, trying and failing to preserve at least some grace and dignity. While he was catching breath, he saw that very same hand that had pushed him into the tree trunk moments ago outstretched in a helpful gesture. Itachi was really tempted to push it away, but that would upset Gai, since he was as sincere in this as he had been in his previous murderous intent, and that would make him sulk all day and …why did Itachi care about that? He did accept the offered help though, using Gai’s strong hand as a support to get up and steady himself.</p>
<p>“Of course I went along with the plan!” Gai threw his hands up in the air in his typical indignation gesture. “Because we are Partners! Don’t know about you Uchiha, but in the Maito household that word actually means something!”</p>
<p>It seems the Kakashi incident had been forgiven… for now. Itachi wouldn’t risk his health and life by bringing it up ever again, and it was best that Gai didn’t know what Itachi had shown to Kakashi under Tsukuyomi. It wasn’t even Itachi’s fault, to be fair, for that jutsu had a life of its own at times, prying the opponent’s heart open for darkest fears and tragedies hidden from everyone’s sight. Who could have thought that after all that had happened, after Gai had left the village as a missing-nin and effectively become a full-blown enemy to Konoha, Hatake Kakashi’s greatest fear was still to see that man open his Eighth Gate in a battle and die. The Tsukuyomi twist to it, of course, had been making Gai open his Eighth Gate to <em>protect Kakashi</em>. Itachi almost felt sorry for the Copy Ninja.</p>
<p>“You are entitled to your secrets, Partner! The Noble Onyx Beast of the Akatsuki does not pry!” Gai flashed Itachi his usual thumbs-up and a huge smile that almost reached his eyes. “But now you must rest, and I shall take the first watch.”</p>
<p>Gai wandered off a little bit, giving Itachi some space. Actually, he needed to stay away from his partner for a while too. Anger was still burning him from the inside, but it wasn’t overwhelming anymore. The pain that his Rival must have felt under Tsukuyomi didn’t echo in Gai’s heart anymore, making him want to smash Itachi’s outrageously calm face in. All in all, now he just felt like he had opened the Third Gate which was really not a big deal. The suspicions about Itachi’s intentions, however, buzzed in Gai’s head like a swarm of bees, eluding him every time he tried to make sense of it all, so he made a mental note to think about it later and decided to let it drop for now. While it was true that he wasn’t going to pry, he was still very much going to think about it. Contrary to popular belief, Gai thought a lot about all sorts of things he noticed about the world and the people around him. Honestly, what else to do during endless bouts of push-ups, sit-ups, running, one-legged hopping and other ridiculous exercises he engaged in every day?</p>
<p>But for now, Gai sat still on the ground, watching the clouds in the sky pass him by. Tears welled up in his eyes with the feeling of pride for Kakashi’s fortitude and resilience. He didn’t expect anything less from his Eternal Rival, of course! However, Gai knew how cruel Tsukuyomi was. Kakashi was probably forced to relive losing all the people he had lost in his life over and over again. Gai clenched his fists. Kakashi endured and stayed alive and it was all that mattered, and it cemented Gai’s resolve to continue his mission. When he had been recruited by Pain, he had been told the truth about the Akatsuki’s goal: making people learn about the pain and suffering of war the hard way to bring peace to all corners of this rotten shinobi world. Gai had been a bit shocked to find himself capable of looking past the first half of that plan for the sake of the second, but maybe it wasn’t all that surprising. After all, he had shouldered Kakashi’s pain in addition to his own for years and he hated this world for it, all the people in it walking the path of life in a lone cold numbness, not caring and not noticing, making the same cruel and thoughtless mistakes time and time again, as if they had been separated from others by meters of snow nobody had the ability to melt. Perhaps nothing short of a fiery hell the Akatsuki wanted to unleash onto the world could accomplish that. When Gai was young, his dad had once told him that a long time ago farmers used to burn the forests to create fruitful fields, using ashes as a valuable fertiliser. So when the usual order of things would burn, its ashes could be used to build a new one, peaceful and friendly where no kid would have to suffer through war, trauma and loss. A world where Kakashi wouldn’t have to be afraid of seeing new familiar names appear on the Konoha Memorial Stone.</p>
<p>“Just a little bit more, Rival!” Gai reiterated his promise to see this goal through until the end. “I am sorry if any of this is going to cause you more pain. Even far from you like that I will share it, as always, and cheer you on to be strong. It’s going to be alright in the end, I believe in it! And then the blissful Springtime of our Youth can truly begin.”</p>
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